Working with Debra was meant to be. We connected with her instantly through our zoom call and we…read moreknew she would be a spectacular wedding guide. We were in awe after hearing of her three-hour magical ceremony filled with love and significant meaning. It made me want to make our day go as deliberate as possible so we could savor every moment. When discussing our wedding vision, Debra invited us to make the ceremony our own. That was the key we needed to hear to unlock all the possibilities to create our dream ceremony. Inspired, we gathered a collection of ideas for our next meeting. She helped us structure our ideas into our perfect ceremony. We were especially excited about our unity pour painting. We loved how she explained that the planning process is also a part of our ceremony. This perspective made everything up to the wedding as special as the day itself, especially the 9 test paintings we made to practice the final one. Seeing the progression of the paintings is symbolic on their own of our growth and connection as a couple. The day was magical from the beginning, and our intention of being present made all the difference. I can remember every slow step I took with my father down the aisle and every word my husband spoke during the ceremony. We are grateful to have had the opportunity to work with Debra. Photography by www.anneclairebrun.com

We both had known and received life guidance from Debra over a period spanning the early chapters…read moreof our relationship. When we picked our venue for an "outdoor country wedding", knowing that we wanted to craft our own style of ceremony, without hesitation we both knew that Debra would be the perfect officiant. Debra met with us and we shared our ideas, some general and some specific about what we wanted as well as what we did not want in our non-traditional styled ceremony. She made thoughtful and creative suggestions, adding her brand of warmth, love and connection, and in the end our ceremony fit us perfectly. The stylistic, spiritual and cultural aspects blended into a beautiful experience that we and our guests enjoyed, and that we felt conveyed the essence of our relationship. We are forever grateful. Paula and Colin

Officiating a wedding is not an easy task. And everyone wants to have their wedding as the best…read morewedding, so did we. We took several recommendations to choose our officiant for the special day. We are glad that Mark was recommended to us by our wedding planners. After the phone appointment we met MARK at a coffee place, where Mark aaked us a lot of questions and understood our relationship. Not only Mark got his answers but also helped both of us relive the relationship that lead to the special day. He then included our story in the ceremony and made it very personal instead of a standard ceremony. He also helped everyone else participate in the ceremony. Mark is not only a great officiant but also a great human. I cannot recommend him enough. Also, Mark's moustache and his business card is cool.

Mark was Amazing! If…read moreour guests didn't know that we planned our Northern California wedding from the comforts of our home in Wisconsin, they would've thought Mark was our pastor since we were in high school. When we were looking for officiants on the internet, we didn't know what to expect. We made appointments with several other officiants but stopped looking after we sat with Mark for nearly 3 hours. After 5 minutes into the conversation, we knew he was the one. We were concerned how everything would fall into place seeing as though we weren't even in the same area as Mark, but he kept the line of communication open. Mark provided us with several options for our ceremony with helpful supporting documentation for us to review on our own time. He made several drafts of our ceremony and let us have the final say so on all things. Mr. Tobak put forth great effort to get to know us, to find out how we met and why we fell in love. His ceremony wasn't the run of the mill wedding service, it was phenomenal!! I've never heard so many guests talk about how wonderful, heartfelt and personal a wedding ceremony was. Instead of raving about the food, our guests still talk about how amazing our ceremony was and it's all because of Mark. He also gave us our ceremony notes for a keepsake. How many other officiants go that extra step? (My mother in law even suggested Mark for one of her upcoming friends wedding, who happened to be looking for an officiant.) Seeing as though this is my first, and only, wedding, I would surely recommend Mark Toback to anyone who is looking for an officiant that puts the couple first. If you're looking for a personalized, touching ceremony, then Mark is the man for the job. This is the biggest day of your adult life. Start it off on the right foot with the best officiant!

We hired Donna / Honey In The Heart for our private elopement/wedding. Donna Rose Gardner was our…read moreofficiant, and Rebecca Stark was our photographer. Donna was amazing and took care of all the arrangements with Rebecca, so we didn't have to worry about coordinating, it was all handled for us. She checked out various sites until she found the perfect one that was exactly what we had wanted. She made sure we knew the process of getting a license ahead of time, organized the timing of arrival, ceremony, etc. She even dealt with rescheduling us twice due to rain, always with a smile and reassurance for us. Donna also provided many pre-written ceremonies and vows for us to choose from and let us modify them to make them our own. She even made gorgeous little vow booklets with our vows, for us to keep as mementos. Rebecca took stunning photographs, before, during, and after the ceremony. She made sure to get many different poses, candid and staged, and included the ocean view and cliffs that we had requested. We ended up with around 150 high quality photos, and she provided them in a gallery we could share with people, and also downloadable in hi-res for printing and sharing online. Donna and Rebecca helped us achieve exactly the wedding we had hoped for, and left us with keepsakes and photos to look back on forever; I highly recommend them!

We had a wonderful experience with Donna as our officiant for our wedding. We needed to find an…read moreofficiant somewhat last minute, and Donna was very accommodating and understanding. She laid out the process very clearly, and her rates are reasonable, too. She provided an opportunity for us to customize our ceremony and pick passages and readings that were meaningful to us. She helped us have a ceremony that was in line with our personalities and beliefs. We felt strongly about having a secular ceremony, and Donna honored and assembled a thoughtful ceremony reading based on our input. Before the wedding, Donna made time to have a rehearsal with out, which was really helpful. On the wedding day, she showed up on-time and worked with our witnesses to get our license signed. She delivered the ceremony beautifully, and we received several compliments on it. Overall, it was a great experience, and we highly recommend Donna.

I consider myself really lucky to have found Allison at Wild Orchid Weddings. She did a wonderful…read morejob coordinating my wedding. We met a few times before the big day and she was wonderful at organizing me and my husband and asking all of the right questions at the right times, and remembering all of the small details. She was very responsive to my emails, which was important to me. Of course the true test of a wedding coordinator is on the day of and this is where she really shined. My day went really smoothly. The timing of the ceremony, the location or all of the rentals, the timing of all of the reception events - everything ran smoothly and I didn't have a thing to worry about on my big day. She also added extra touches like bringing vases from home for the bridesmaid bouquets and I suspect she was the fairy godmother who brought us leftover food for late night noshing and a box with all the extra votives, programs, and various miscellaneous stuff we weren't thinking about then but are so happy to have now. Her rates are extremely reasonable compared to some of the other firms I looked at in the bay area. Several of my other vendors (the DJ, the photographer, and the venue owner) commented on what a great job she did. In addition, Allison is a joy to work with. She is a fun, caring person. It is really important to find a coordinator you click with and again, I was lucky to have found Allison!

I worked with mango mehndi for my bridal Henna party. Zehra was amazing!! She was extremely…read moreprofessional, quick to respond to my questions and requests, and very accommodating to make sure the event turned out how I wanted. Her artistry in henna designs was absolutely beautiful, and I got so many positive comments from family and friends about it. She was truly a pleasure to work with and I'd recommend her to anyone!!

Engagement photoshoot on 6/22/13. Lily is an awesome photographer to work with. She's super…read morefriendly and courteous and she takes the time to figure out what your personality is like. She has a great eye for what is beautiful, quirky, and romantic-the perfect mix to show what my relationship with the fiance is like. This lady spent 3 hours looking for the perfect lighting and angle and whatever it is photographers need to do their magic. The results were very impressive and I'm very happy I chose Lily and her husband to help capture an important chapter in my life. I guess she picked the perfect day as well since we got some shots of the supermoon =) My biggest thing for wedding stuff/anything really, is communication. She was very fast with responses and even with posting some teasers of the shoot so I could see some of the pictures the next day. Awesome. Another thing is, if you're not creative don't worry! She has so many poses and different ideas of very clever pictures. I felt kind of bad because I kept giggling/moving around when I was supposed to be serious, but Lily was really patient and just chatted while I pulled it together. She did the shoot with her husband and I thought it was great they were so easy to talk to-taking pictures is a little nerve-racking as it is, but it definitely helps when you have friendly people working with you. tldr: If you're planning on taking engagement/wedding pics, Lily is your woman. The fiance: "She's amazing and I didn't know I could look that good".

I just had my first baby. Just like most parents, I would like to capture the precious moment of…read morenew born. I worked with two photographers prior working with Lily. One is outrageous expensive and the other one is slow responsding. Lily is the best one and I wish I had known her earlier. Lily is easy to working with and has patience to wait for the baby perfect moment. I am very happy with the outcome and most important thing is I have something to remember for many years! I highly recommend Lily if you are looking for someone to capture the wonderful moment in your life!

Krista is an amazing photographer! I have a very large family, with twelve small grandchildren…read more Krista quickly established a wonderful rapport with the kids. The individual shoots, small group and large group shots were all gorgeous! Her work graces several walls in our home. Thank you Krista! You are truly gifted!

I'm so happy we found Candice! She is very friendly and professional. She did an amazing job on our…read morewedding pictures. We could not be happier with how they turned out. We had a beach wedding in Santa Cruz and she had no problem meeting me there a few weeks before the wedding to see the location. There were a few changes from the time I first contacted her to our wedding day and she was absolutely amazing and understanding about it. I was very tense during our ceremony shoot due to being two hours behind on schedule and I must say Candice was a big help! I was worried it would show in the pictures but honestly thanks to her I was able to relax and enjoy. She is extremely patient and very creative. She captured even the smallest details. She is just wonderful! Thank you Candice!

Candy went above and beyond with the photos! They turned out perfectly. I was running late and…read moremissing out on the lighting and she worked me magic, as you can see in the pictures! I highly recommend her for any special occasions and will definitely be using her again! She also practiced social social distancing and wore a mask.